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When I posted about the loss to Club Carlson of their Radisson Blu Warwick Philadelphia, reports came in of similar losses around the world.
The Radisson San Francisco is now Hotel Zephyr (see here on the redesign).
Paris has lost a number of Radisson Blus. I don’t have an exact count of the losses, which include Radisson Blu Le Dokhan and Radisson Blu Le Metropolitan. When I stayed at Radisson Blu Paris Boulogne in March 2015 I recall around 10 properties to choose. There are now 4 left.
(Aside: that Boulogne hotel came with a great French punchline. With my Club Carlson Gold I was upgraded to a Business Class room. Business Class rooms come with breakfast however the duty manager insisted an upgrade to it does not include breakfast. When I inquired what it did include, he said, “The Nespresso machine.” That and a pack of Gauloises is a French breakfast.)
(2nd aside: why did I stay at a Radisson Blu in a dull Paris suburb on a paid business trip? Because of these bonuses!)
Without a way to easily quantify the total losses, these examples are an indication of a hotel chain adrift. Maybe the recent acquisition by HNA will buck things up?
Readers, what other Club Carlson losses have there been in the past year?
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My Favorite… St Martin
As someone who is bicoastal, I find the Carlson flags to be pretty abundant in the Southeast, but on the West Coast, Carlson is nonexistent. It isn’t just San Francisco. They lost the Radissons in Sacramento and Stockton. Carlson also lost the Park Inn in Modesto as well. Just last month Carlson also lost the Country Inn in Barstow. Those last 2 didn’t switch to another chain, They thought it was better to have no affiliation than be part of Carlson. Ouch. Plus, there are no Carlson flags at all in Las Vegas. How incompetent do you have to be… Read more »
The no-breakfast-on-business-upgrade is not unique to French hotels. Had the same thing happen in Reykjavik. I believe at the time I checked and found the policy supported somewhere in the published rules.
Carlson is having a particularly difficult time in the US with city center properties. With the loss of Boston, Philadelphia and San Francisco, they really don’t have city center properties in most of the top business destinations domestically. That’s coupled with what seems to be a failed attempt at rolling out the Radisson Blu flag in the US (which was supposed to let them compete in the same segment as Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, etc.). After several years, the only Radisson Blus are one in Chicago and two in the Minneapolis area. With such limited name recognition due to such a… Read more »
Radisson has been loosing properties left and right – Tahiti, Mexico City, Aruba and many more. We can only speculate why but it seems they don’t have the tight grip on high spenders like Hyatt and Hilton…